Lok Sabha Election / Voting on 93 seats in 11 states, 4 former CMs including Amit Shah and Dimple in the fray

Lok Sabha Election: The third phase of voting is going on for the Lok Sabha elections in the country. More than 1300 candidates are contesting on 93 seats in 11 states and union territories. The leaders whose fate is at stake in today's elections include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as well as 4 former Chief Ministers. Apart from these, Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav, Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule and AIUDF leader in Assam Badruddin Ajmal are also big faces, whose fate will be sealed in EVM today. Elections are also being held on 4 seats in Bengal, where tough competition is expected.

Under the third phase, voting will be held in 10 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh, Sambhal, Hathras, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Agra, Mainpuri, Badaun, Etah, Amla and Bareilly. Apart from Uttar Pradesh (10), voting will be conducted on 25 seats in Gujarat, 14 in Karnataka and 11 in Maharashtra in this phase. Apart from this, elections will be held on 9 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 7 in Chhattisgarh, 5 in Bihar, 4 each in Assam and West Bengal. Also, voting will be conducted in Goa (2), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2 seats).

Fight between Dimple and Jaiveer in UP

In this phase, the biggest face in UP is Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri seat, who is also the wife of party chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. He had won from here in the by-election held after the death of his father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav. Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh is contesting from Mainpuri seat. Jaiveer Singh is considered to have a tough competition with Dimple.

Union Minister SP Singh Baghel (Agra) is trying his luck from Agra parliamentary seat, while State Minister of State for Revenue Anup Pradhan Valmiki is also contesting from Hathras Lok Sabha seat. Firozabad seat is also very special for SP because Akshay Yadav, son of the party's chief national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, is contesting from here. Similarly, Aditya Yadav is in the fray from Badaun seat. In 2014, Aditya's cousin Dharmendra Yadav had won the Badaun seat.

Gujarat: Fate of 3 Union Ministers will be sealed

Voting will be conducted in Gujarat (26 seats) in a single phase. Voting will be held here on 7th May. However, Bharatiya Janata Party has won unopposed on Surat parliamentary seat. Mukesh Dalal has been elected MP from here. Whereas elections will be held on the remaining 25 parliamentary seats of the state. The fate of Home Minister Amit Shah will be at stake in this election. Amit Shah is contesting from Gandhi Nagar Lok Sabha seat. Congress has fielded Sonal Patel against him. Shah had won a big victory from here in the last elections.

Apart from former BJP national president Amit Shah, other Union ministers Purushottam Rupala (Rajkot) and Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar) are also in the fray. BJP state party president CR Patil is also in the fray from Navsari and his fate will also be captured in EVMs.

MP: Credibility of 2 former CMs at stake

In the third phase, voting will also be held on 9 seats of Madhya Pradesh. In this election, the political future of three big stalwarts of the state, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and two former Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Digvijay Singh is going to be decided. Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh is contesting elections from Vidisha Lok Sabha seat after almost 17 years. Congress has fielded Pratap Bhanu Sharma against him. Shivraj has been elected MP from here several times before.

Apart from Shivraj, veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh is in the fray for Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat. Two-time BJP MP Rodmal Nagar is challenging him. Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who left Congress and joined BJP, is contesting from Guna parliamentary seat. Congress has fielded Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav against Scindia.

2 former CMs also in Karnataka's battle

Out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, voting will be conducted on the remaining 14 seats under the third phase. Voting has already been done on 14 seats in the second phase. Many big faces are going to be at stake in this phase. Here too the fate of two former Chief Ministers and one Union Minister is to be decided. Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is contesting from Haveri seat. Apart from him, Jagadish Shettar is contesting from Belgaum seat. Both are contesting elections on BJP ticket.

Apart from these, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi is also contesting from Dharwad parliamentary seat. Congress has fielded Vinod Asuti against him. Apart from these 3 faces, Geeta Shivraj Kumar is in the fray from Congress's Shimoga seat. She is the wife of famous actor Shivraj Kumar and daughter of former CM S Bangarappa. Also, Radhakrishna Doddamani, son-in-law of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, is contesting from Gulbarga seat.

Badruddin's big challenge in Assam

Elections will be held on 4 seats in Assam under the third phase. During this time, everyone's eyes will be on Dhubri Lok Sabha seat. All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) President Badruddin Ajmal is contesting from Dhubri seat. Congress has fielded Rakibul Hussain against him, while the contest has become triangular with the entry of AGP's Javed Islam, an ally of the BJP-led NDA. 13 people are presenting their candidature for this seat. Ajmal has been MP for three consecutive terms.

In this phase of Maharashtra politics, there is going to be tough competition on some seats. Voting is being conducted on 48 seats in Maharashtra in 5 phases. Voting will be conducted on 11 seats in the third phase. However, in this phase there is a contest between sister-in-law and brother-in-law on Baramati Lok Sabha seat. Supriya Sule, daughter of NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) chief Sharad Pawar, is contesting elections from here. In front of him is his sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar, who is the wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. In such a situation, the competition here is tough.